How the Writer of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” Became a Thanksgiving Hero

Here in the US, we are preparing to celebrate our Thanksgiving holiday, with its traditional big dinners and gatherings of family and friends. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, but it hasn’t always been that predictable.

 The first national day of Thanksgiving was declared by President George Washington in 1789, and in subsequent years different states would establish their own days of Thanksgiving, but there was no uniformity.

 In 1827, magazine editor and writer Sarah Josepha Hale, who also wrote the classic nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” started a campaign to establish a national Thanksgiving holiday. Her campaign continued for 36 years, and she finally succeeded in 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, to be held on the fourth Thursday of November. (She is often recognized as the Mother of Thanksgiving for her efforts.)

 Now, Thanksgiving Day did move once after that, in 1939, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt felt that moving up Thanksgiving would allow extra time for Christmas shopping and would help to stimulate the economy. He moved it up to the third Thursday of the month, but he was met with strong opposition. It only took two years before he grudgingly moved it back to the fourth Thursday in November, where it has remained ever since.

 Do you have Thanksgiving traditions? Do you celebrate with family, or maybe celebrate Friendsgiving with friends? Or do you maybe just skip all of the fuss and head to the movies? Aspen Cove celebrates with their annual Thanksgiving potluck (which they are preparing for in One Hundred Mistakes).

 For those who do celebrate, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. And during this season of gratitude, please know that I am grateful for all of you.